Canadian Microelectronics Corp seeks to expand funding envelope with new focus on convergence and learning

When the Canadian Microelectronics Corp (CMC) officially launches its national System-on-Chip Research Network (SRN) in Ottawa on June 7, the organization and its partners will only be pausing briefly to celebrate their accomplishment. Plans are already being developed to further enhance CMC’s ability to facilitate the research and training underpinning the rapidly evolving microelectronics and related sectors. Like the best publicly funded research organizations, it’s developing several ambitious initiatives firmly focused on the future needs of Canadian industry.

With a staff of 31 at its Kingston ON headquarters, the 17-year-old CMC is on the cusp of a major expansion, due to its successful proposal last year to the Canada Foundation for Innovation (CFI) to help finance the SRN and associated virtual private network (VPN). The SRN is a $40-million, five-year project that attracted $15.9 million from CFI, $6.2 million from Ontario Innovation Trust (OIT) and $18 million from its industrial partners.

Touted as the world’s first nationally distributed network for system-on-chip (SOC) research, that project alone has boosted CMC’s annual expenditures in FY01-02 to $16.7 million, a 125.7% jump from FY00-01 spending of $7.4 million. The Ottawa event will mark the official unveiling of SRN and the beginning of the procurement and investment phase to acquire the equipment required both to conduct research and for researchers to collaborate through the VPN.

But CMC has no intention of stopping there, having identified several opportunities that it contends are critical to maintaining and increasing Canada’s enviable track record in microelectronics and microsystems. CMC is developing another CFI proposal to establish a national collaboratory for verification and test and measurement of microelectronics, photonics and systems. And it’s planning to establish several CMC nodes across the country, providing researchers and graduate students with the means to collaborate remotely at a remarkably detailed level.

The current estimate for this project is $20 million, but CMC VP Dan Gale says it’s still too early to determine how extensive the node structure will be or even if CMC will apply for the next round of CFI funding by the May 30 deadline. “We don’t have the operating model necessary to support a number of nodes finished yet,” he says. “It might be more beneficial for us to go through a further demonstration project at the concept development stage so that we do this properly. We’re talking about a pretty major investment here.”

In parallel with the CFI proposal, CMC is also becoming increasingly involved in photonics, optoelectronics and micro electro-mechanical systems (MEMS) as these areas converge with microelectronics. And it’s also developing plans to dramatically expand its role in learning services, playing more directly to the education and training agenda — a move that will require substantial investment in computer systems and design tools, test equipment and CMC’s own equipment pool. CMC is hoping to capitalize on its breakthrough with provincial funding from the OIT to convince other provinces to support its proposed educational-related initiatives.

“Microelectronics research and highly qualified personnel (HQP) underpin large portions of the economy and are essential to the success of the country in the foreseeable future. Therefore, it becomes the responsibility for governments at all levels to understand the importance of this industry and the HQP connected to it,” says Dr Brian Barge, CMC’s president and CEO, adding that preliminary discussions are underway with officials in British Columbia, Alberta and Quebec. “CMC has a narrower focus on the provision of infrastructure for the interests of research, but because of the connection between research and high quality education, it’s natural we would work with provincial governments.”

In addition to CFI and potential provincial funding, bedrock public funding for CMC’s programs and services is provided by the Natural Sciences and Engineering Research Council (NSERC) through its research partnerships program. NSERC funding is currently pegged at $30.5 million over five years (1999 to 2004), permitting CMC to establish a National Design Network, which in turn is serving as the basis for the SRN. NSERC previously funded the CMC at $22.7 million over five years (R$, February 22/95).

INDUSTRY SUPPORT CRUCIAL

But by far the greatest single block of CMC funding is furnished by its industry partners through a mixture of cash, in-kind, discounted goods and access to leading-edge intellectual property (IP). In addition to the 42 universities CMC serves, it has more than 25 private sector partners representing the cream of the Canadian and foreign microelectronics industry.

It’s through agreements with these firms that CMC is able to assemble leading-edge intellectual property (IP) blocks for use by researchers and students, thereby ensuring that the right skills are developed to facilitate easy entry into the work force.

“By working with suppliers in Canada and outside, we are putting together a library on the electronic network here at CMC. We will fill that library with pre-designed IP blocks of functionality that we select in consultation with a number of principal investigators and others in the university community,” says Barge. “As long as they (users) keep their IP block separate from the other IP, they could create true value that they could re-sell or transfer. Where it becomes tricky is if you somehow integrate these IP blocks so tightly that you can’t separate the joint IP, in which case you will have to get into agreements with the parties that own the other blocks.”

The progression of microelectronics and its convergence with related fields is making IP management an increasingly critical component of CMC’s mandate and service delivery. With its program now carved into four main business themes, IP management is an integral component of each (see box above).

“One of the great advantages of the program historically is that the professors and students don’t have to worry about dealing with the Suns and the Cadences and developing all the tools in conjunction with the manufacturers,” says Barge. “We build the IP reservoir, manage the IP agreements and keep an eye out for what the researchers want. We reduce the administrative burden so they can focus on the research and writing. That’s the value we add.”

The technology that industry provides to CMC is arming researchers with an impressive one-year advantage over their counterparts in other countries. That translates into a huge advantage as students enter the work force familiar with the most advanced technology that industry uses.

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